When John Evans took over last year from OBF founder and executive director Royce Saltzmann, one of his priorities was spreading the gospel of collaboration. This year, that vision brings together art, culture and music in the joint World Harmony Project, opening with a festive bang or two just before the Bach Fest kicks into high choral gear.

The World Harmony Project brings together the UO’s Museum of Natural and Cultural History, the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art and the OBF for several days of cross-artistic celebration. Things start off at 6 pm Thursday, June 25, at both museums. At the J-Schnitz, where the print exhibition “On The Road: Two Visions of the Tokkaido” opens that evening, musicians and dancers include Eugene Taiko, the Eugene-Springfield Obon Dancers and the On Ensemble, OBF performers who mix hip hop, rock, jazz and more into the ancient Japanese art of taiko drumming. Evans says that this year, the Bach Fest is “visually captivating,” and that’s the case both for the prints and the drummers.

In the Museum of Natural and Cultural History — east of the J-Schnitz in space but, in this case, west in subject matter — lovers of the Metropolitan Museum’s musical instruments room can get a thrill from trying their hands at some of the “Musical Instruments from Around the World.” Apocalypso, a local steel drum band, performs for part of the evening to pump even more energy into the gathering.

In collaboration with the Bach Fest’s dance theme, the MNCH also features Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Brian Lanker’s “Shall We Dance?” Lanker signs copies of his book, and dance-lovers can watch demonstrations by the UO Ballroom Dance Club.

The next main events in the World Harmony Project take place 1pm-4pm Sunday, June 28, at both museums with “Sunday of Sound.” At the Museum of Cultural and Natural History, there’s popular Eugene music ranging from Samba Ja to Nick Sixkiller with Powwow Drums. Families can make their own musical instruments during the festivities. The J-Schnitz offers sounds of Asia, from gamelan to shakuhachi flute. For more information about the events in the World Harmony Project, visit jsma.uoregon.edu/WHP.html

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